I hope you have paid a visit to my on-line shop at http://www.booksmatic.com since my last post. I have updated my pets section. At the last widget you will find more items for your pets. Have a look at the Solvit Tagalong Pet Booster Seat. This is ideal when travelling with your pet and comes in small, medium and large.
Now to get back to the devastation on the sunken toilet and earthquake and the subsequent "modernization" that followed after that. Please first read the link about the earthquake in 1969.
Now, the farm on which I grew up was not far from Ceres and Tulbagh. I would say approximately about a 100 km or so. Give and take a few kilometers. The make-shift toilet under the old pine tree was up running. My dad decided that this is the time to have an inside flush toilet installed. This was a big thing as at that stage we had no electricity and no telephone. At night candles and lamps were used. On Saturday evenings the generator was switched on to generate electricity, but this was switched off at 11 pm.
In the kitchen we had a Aga Stove and a gas fridge. Between the kitchen and the bedroom of the boys was a closed veranda with the door leading to the outside. It was an ordinary week night. Both my parents were out for the evening. I was sitting at the table in the bedroom doing my homework. My sister was helping me. As those were the days before ballpoint pens, the pen had to be refilled each time it was empty (and besides the fact that we were prohibited to use ballpoint pens at all).
My sister was standing behind me. She was helping me to re-fill the pan. It was then we when he heard this low sound like an approaching train. The next minute the world started to shake around us. We all shouted "earthquake" and made for the door. Dog included. Never mind that half the ink pot was thrown down my back. My brother, sister and I tried to get out the backdoor simultaneously, but got stuck in the door. The poor dog could not get his turn quick enough to get out the back door, missed the turn, carried on straight and ended up under the kitchen table with all the chairs falling on top of him. In the end we all managed to get out the door, the budgie in his cage as well. One of us must have picked up the poor blight in his cage.
Very soon my parents rushed home to see if we were okay. We all were a bit shaken and okay, but not the house. The kitchen chimney decided that it has had enough and it fell over and the rest of the house had many cracks. This was then that my dad decided to demolish the chimney, take the old stove out and lay electricity cables to the house. Now imagine once the electricity was switched on how we went around from room to room switching light on and off.
At the same time the "donkey" in the bathroom was replaced with an electric geyser. Now those of you who do not know what a donkey is, it is a boiler in the bathroom that had to be stoked with wood chips to boil the water. Maybe today with the high price of electricity this was a much cheaper and environmentally friendlier option.
The best however was the shared telephone line that was installed (how kept up with all this sudden modernization still remains a mystery today). Each person using the share line had an unique ring. Ours was two short rings and two long rings. If you phoned the person sharing your line, it was for free, All other outgoing calls were paid for and the telephone exchange controlled this. The older generation will remember this: "Number please" or if you want to phone you had to pick up the phone and ask: "Line busy?".
Here at http://www.booksmatic.com many history books are sold as well. Browse and don't be shy.
The recipe today is
Eggplant with cheese
Two oven baked eggplants
2 desert spoons butter
1 tin (340 g) chopped tomatoes
500 g fresh grated mozzarella cheese
30 g parmasan cheese
30 g mixed herbs to taste
Pre-heat oven to 200 deg C
Use deep oven dish and butter it
Cut eggplant in slices and place in oven dish
Place tomatoes, cheese and herbs on top
Bake until cheese starts to bubble (about 45 minutes)
Serve warm with rice, pasta or cold with bread
Enjoy just as much as you will enjoy visiting http://www.booksmatic.com \
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